The Forgotten Ones

It was always miserable; it has always been the same for “them.” What is not the same for “them” and who are “they”?

“They” are the orphans. The word feels heavy on the heart, and nobody would imagine or would like to imagine being one. Where do they live? They don’t have a home. They don’t have the feeling of home, the warmth, and the security; they only have deprivations, several of them, and they survive in a place called an orphanage.

They don’t live, as I indicated, but they do endure. It is commonly known that their primary goal in life is survival, and that they are unable to afford the luxury of living and experiencing life to the utmost. You’ll uncover different stories if you visit an orphanage. Some children will share their harrowing tales with you, while others won’t even be aware of their own tales. There would be many who would have never had a chance to find out what happened to them or what brought them to the orphanage.

Not all the children living in orphanages have the story of having lost both parents in some tragic event. Many people have been institutionalised because they were born in impoverished areas and their existence was too costly for those who had them.There are children who have medical problems so severe that their parents cannot afford their treatment and care, and they end up in orphanages where they don’t have anyone to even notice them closely and where they cannot cry out their helplessness.

There are children from migrant families who lose their home and parents as well.

How damaging could it be to be institutionalised and an orphan?

Children survive on the bare minimum in orphanages. The things we count as very normal to have are things they dream of having. The bare minimum they survive on ranges from love and care to the food they get to eat, from learning opportunities to security in terms of their future and protection from external threats. There is no stimulation of the mind, care, attention, security, or happiness for them. Their mental health suffers profoundly, as does their physical health. They don’t get nutrition, and those who come to these orphanages at an early age, or in the first few months of their very life, to be specific, suffer profound psychological scars. These deprivations and the abuses they suffer derail their adulthood profoundly. We cannot even imagine our children crying and us not responding to them, but these children cry, and nobody is there to console them. How bad can it be for a 1-year-old? Consider a baby who is six months old, two months old, or one week old.The pain and deprivation they suffer can only be imagined.

According to UNICEF, around 153 million children in the world are orphans. 50.3% of children in orphanages had experienced physical or sexual abuse, according to a five-country study. A different study found that 57% of children had been emotionally neglected and 36% had been emotionally abused.

Many girl children are sexually abused because they are abandoned and cannot afford security, and they are frequently found dumped in garbage.Some are so young that they can’t even repel the abusers. Male children, particularly young boys, are sexually abused, albeit at a lower rate than girls, but it is still abuse, and it occurs.They find nobody to fight for themselves, console them, or give them a shoulder to cry on.

These children do not have any less talent than any of us or those who are famous. It’s just that they don’t get the right opportunities and environment to foster and cultivate their talents. They end up getting less than the basic minimum education and grow up surviving on low incomes.

Today I write about them because these are the things I have seen, heard, or listened to, but what I have written might be an underestimation of what they really suffer. They are a part of our community, but they are frequently forgotten, and being forgotten hurts a lot. So, if you ever meet an orphan, give a few minutes of your life to observe their behavior; try to see pain behind their smiles and words behind their silences, and you’ll get an answer to what exactly they suffer. Pat their hands with love or give them a warm hug. Give them something you wish you had for yourself or your kid. They will feel the love for some time, and that might make at least one happy memory for them.